Friday, May 22, 2009

College Radio Tidbits: College Radio with a Filter, 30 Years of Jazz, WUVT Powers Down to Power Up, WESU Alum Love

A few college radio tidbits to share:

Paste Magazine: "College Radio with a Filter"I'm always interested to see how college radio is described in pop culture and there was a pretty interesting reference to it in a POPSENSE piece about Paste magazine. Abby Johnston writes about the "7 Reasons to Save Paste Magazine," and name checks college radio in her number one reason, saying:

1. It’s Like College Radio…With a Filter!

One of the easiest places for music lovers to turn for a fresh, new music is university radio stations. But, speaking from experience as a college deejay, sometimes we have sticks so far up our asses that we have trouble admitting that no, we don’t like that African tribal music with the 20 minute bongo solos, even if we played it for the sake of obscurity. Paste does an excellent job of ferreting out artists that get too hard to access, while neatly sidestepping most of the artists readers would already know. Their mission is not to bring you something to jabber about to your culture savvy friends, but rather something you actually enjoy. Note: You can usually name drop the bands and still remain ahead of the culture curve. Bonus!

What's so wrong with 20 minute bongo solos, anyway?

Saddleback College Jazz Station Celebrates 3o Years of JazzKSBR is celebrating 30 years as a jazz station with a concert in Southern California this weekend according to an article in The Orange County Register. Although the station specializes in contemporary jazz, they also have weekend specialty shows in other genres (hip hop, reggae, folk, roots, Latin, etc.).

WUVT Transition While Awaiting More PowerThe radio station at Virginia Tech, WUVT-FM, is working on a power increase, but in the meantime has had to move their antennas due to construction on its home building. According to an article on WSLS 10's website,

"The station previously broadcast from the top of Lee Hall, an on-campus residence hall. The building is now undergoing renovations and the radio station was forced to close the location where it was transmitting. WUVT is now unable to broadcast on top of Lee Hall or its unfinished Price Mountain site during this time. Temporarily, the station will be broadcasting on top of Squires Student Center at significantly reduced power. This period of reduced power is expected to last up to four weeks."

NPR Producer and WESU Alum Shares Love for College RadioA Hartford Courant article about NPR producer Doug Berman reveals his college radio roots at Wesleyan's college radio station WESU. According to the piece,

"In his college days, he served as program director and all-around studio rat at WESU, the campus station...

Mr. Radio Mover Shaker hasn't forgotten his roots. He donates to WESU. He gives advice to radio aspirants (then steers them to film, he cracks).

In this e-mail interview, Berman has one teeny tiny request to the university powers that be: Give the radio station a proper home. WESU was supposed to have been housed in the new student center but was relegated to the outskirts of campus.

'I hope they'll correct that some day,' Berman says. 'In fact, I'll volunteer to help carry the albums back up the hill when the day comes.'"

By the way, WESU celebrates 70 years on the air this year and they claim to be one of the oldest college radio stations.